Flashes of the Past...

[genndme.livejournal.com]

I've been working on my fanfics lately and came across something I thought was interesting enough to post. As I was doing my 'research' for Moon Promises I found that Irene's brother died by "falling" off a horse. This didn't strike me as strange until I came across another part of the book where Gen again stubbornly expounds on his hate of horses.

These two facts might not seem to connect at all if we (as readers) hadn't found out that Gen has been watching her for a long time (i.e. around the possible age of six). This got me thinking and I came to this tentative conclusion: Maybe Gen's fear of horses derives from his experiences as a kid and the way Irene's brother died(possibly).

Being new to this community, I don't know if you guys have talked about this before and come to this conclusion already therefore making me sound like a complete fool (welcome to the Gen Club). Just thought this was something interesting and I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter.

Be blessed in your endeavors!
Dduw bendithia.

Comments

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

That is an interesting theory...I'm thinking that maybe since Gen already has a thief's fear of falling to his death, he might be more affected by stories of different ways one might fall to one's death, and falling off a hosrse is one of them.

Interesting thoughts!

[genndme.livejournal.com]

A horse is pretty big!

[genndme.livejournal.com]

Even if they had helmets I seriously doubt Gen would wear them.

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

I always connected his dislike of horses with his fear of falling. It's possible cases like Irene's brother contributed to his phobia!

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

Do we take at face value that Attolia's brother's death was an accident?

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I think it's heavily implied that it wasn't, but a fall's still a fall, after all...

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

I thought so as well, so the question becomes, is Gen's superstitious fear of falling strong enough to overcome his cynicism about how the brother died, such as to cause a life-long hatred of horses?

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I definitely got the impression that his death was arranged, rather than accidental, in QoA. Doesn't Attolia think at one point that her brother was almost certainly assassinated?

Yes!

Eddis had gone on the winter hunts, and Attolia had been sitting, awkward and miserable, in the court of her future father-in-law, listening to his plans to rule her kingdom and hating the princess who would become the heir to Eddis when her older brothers died. Died of sickness, Attolia thought, not assassinated as her own brother had certainly been. -- Chapter 18

[genndme.livejournal.com]

No, we most certainly do not, but, most people just suspect that he died falling off a horse. And, you can be killed purposely falling off a horse: i.e. someone lies in wait and freaks the horse so bad it flings the rider. Fall the wrong way and WHAM! you're dead.

So, no, not an accident, but he could have died by horse falling.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

I believe cutting the girths are the most popular literary variation.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

A serious possibility. Might be one reason why Gen likes to take his time mounting them.

[theorangethief.livejournal.com]

Another popular one is putting a burr under a sadle.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Poor horse.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

Wow, cool idea! And well spotted. I have never made that connection before; I'm sure we haven't talked about it while I've been in the comm.

It's interesting, and distinctly possible, although I also think that Gen's dislike of horses is at least partly caused by his personal experience with them. It sounds like secret backstory when he says, somewhere in The Thief, "Horses may seem majestic, but never forget that they're as likely to step on you as look at you" (total paraphrase from memory). I think he's been stepped on, and I think he's holding a grudge against all of horsekind, because, let's face it, holding grudges is something Gen's super good at.

And maybe Attolia's brother's particular case aside, I think that the relationship between the height of horses in general, with their potential for being fallen-off-of, and Gen's family's particular habit of death-by-fall, could be a factor. Again, it's a connection that has never occurred to me. Thanks for sharing!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I think there might also be an aspect of Gen being good at most things right off the bat -- he's very bright, he's athletic/acrobatic, he's highly competitive -- without really trying all that hard on his own, and it seems that horse riding did not come naturally to him. Since you actually have to expend quite a bit of effort to become an excellent horseback rider, and Gen isn't invested in expending that effort because the goal isn't valuable to him, he's found reasons not to.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

Wow! I hadn't thought of that! Ha! Gen's jealous (we know he can be)!

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Nah, I think Gen is just afraid that he's finally met something more stubborn than he is!!!

[genndme.livejournal.com]

That's so true! Hadn't thought about that. >D

[bookishbabe.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, looking at the tenacity with which Gen pursued left-handed swordsmanship after ...removing the King Magus, I don't get the sense that Eugenides is a natural so much as he is a focused and diligent student. I'm not so sure he'd shy away from hard work. He just makes it look so effortless.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

The key part there was that the goal was worth it to expend the effort. Also, I feel like the reason he was a great swordsman in the first place is that he had his father to push him into excellence.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say I love you icon!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I've wondered how long it took him to juggle those 3 darn knives...

[meltintall3.livejournal.com]

My impression, based on the scene where he steals the stone from the Magus in TT is that he IS a good rider when he has to be.

If he wasn't good, it was pure luck that he was in the right place at the right time. But it seems to me that the passage reads ambiguously enough that Gen is hiding that he directed the horse.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I think he can be a good rider but (being Gen) he's taken a dislike towards horses and therefore is going to be stubborn and gripe about them at every oppertunity.

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

I don't know. There's that passage in QoA where Eddis thinks about how Gen hadn't been a good enough rider to go on a hunt before he had his hand cut off when Attolia asks him if he would like to go on a hunt the next day. And then one earlier in the same book when he's put out that he has to ride on horseback while traveling with Eddis, because he can't sulk in a carriage if she isn't in there with him. Wouldn't he want to be a good rider in either those situations, vain thing that he is?

[genndme.livejournal.com]

True. Yet, in KoA he doesn't care what his attendants think even though he is still our dear beloved vain Gen. Irene makes note of it ('like you ever cared'). So, while I think it is possible he might have wanted to 'look good' in front of people it is just as possible that he does know how to ride, told people he doesn't (kind of like how he wants people to think he's no good with a sword), and is now stuck with people thinking he can't (kind of like in QoA when he, Eddis, and the magus are having lunch and Eddis comments on how Gen is bitter about people thinking he can't use a sword when he was the one who wanted him them to think that in the first place).

Not sure that made any sense but I hope it did. =)

[(Anonymous)]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that riding a horse is rather painful if you don't do it much. (Like bike riding. It's not about how good of a biker you are--if you haven't biked in ages, your butt still hurts the first time you get back on.) That could have more to do with his reluctance to ride with Helen than anything else.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

Hm, that's another possibility! Maybe it's all of those things.

[genndme.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. It does sound like a good fanfic "Exploring the reasons why Gen hates horses". ;D

Gen IS super good at holding grudges against everyone but Irene. I don't think he could if he tried!